Friday Fight 153: Counting or Recounting?
Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF153.
When spending time in the Word, the truth of God’s character is found in many passages throughout Scripture. Loving, faithful, and merciful are among the endless attributes described in countless passages. In these truths, we find ourselves in prayer and many times pray the same words and phrases repeatedly. Prayer is so much more than needs being met by our Creator; everything we have is because of Him. We feel grateful and blessed when our prayers are heard and answered, but what about when His answer does not look like the one we envisioned? Are we allowing this to compromise our spiritual lives?
Counting or Recounting?
God has answered many of our past prayers; too many to count. Yet, we have all been in situations where we have pleaded to God, petitioning for ourselves or others knowing in our hearts that He would answer. We fervently beseech with a faithful heart, yet when His answer looks differently than we hoped, we cannot understand, and areas of our lives are deeply impacted; we are left with a hole in our soul. Isaiah 55:9 says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God knows best. He may answer our prayers or ask us to wait, but either way we should honor Him. When my father was sick, I prayed endlessly for His healing. My entire family unceasingly prayed and was devastated, like everyone else who experiences death. The situations and circumstances around death are all different and tragic, but pain is pain. I walked through the valley and the stages of grief, but never blamed God or walked away from Him.
Our prayers are a conversation with God, and supplication is a part of that. But, when our answer is not what we expected it can be impactful. Sometimes this disappointment in the Lord asking us to wait takes time to process. When our prayers go unanswered, instead of walking away from God, spend time with Him and experience His comfort. If not, we may find ourselves in a perspective of looking at ourselves and counting. We may not be keeping track of unanswered prayers; however, it could be counting everything we did right while praying and becoming irritated at the answer we were given. Most of us do not like being told that we must wait, especially when we feel as if we are patient.
An essential part of prayer is repentance, placing our brokenness before God and others, and asking to be forgiven. When we come before the throne of God in complete humility, regardless of what we are raising in prayer, we should honor Him regardless of the answer we receive. God always has something greater than anything we could ever imagine. Instead of focusing on what God didn't do or what we did, let's begin our prayers by recounting what He has continuously done and thank Him for His mercy and grace. We can approach Him in adoration of who He is, which reminds us of who we are without Him. God is always just, so we can trust Him always to do what is right. He is sovereign and cares deeply about everything in our lives! God is Elohim. He is powerful and fulfills all His promises. This week, join me in recounting His faithfulness, goodness, and perfect peace.
Pastor Shannon
New Life Calvert